Madras HC upholds death sentence of three convicts in Dharmapuri case

Chennai, Dec 6 (ANI): The Madras High Court on Thursday upheld the sentences of the 28 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) workers, including the three awarded death penalty, in connection with the Dharmapuri bus burning case. A Sessions Court in Salem convicted them in February. Three men were sentenced to death and 25 others were given seven years imprisonment in the case. Three girl students of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) were roasted alive on February 2, 2000, when their college bus was set ablaze by unidentified persons near Elakiyampatti in Dharmapuri following the conviction of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa in the Kodaikanal Pleasant Stay Hotel case. Eighteen other students were injured in the attack. There were 31 accused in the case, out of which, one had died during the trial. And two were acquitted. The verdict in the case came after a seven-year-long trial. The case assumed significance when the Madras High Court suspended its trial at the Krishnagiri court and transferred it to the sessions court on September 19, 2003. (ANI)